Last summer, I received an email from one of my advisors about a mentorship program through the Civil and Environmental Engineering program at Ohio State. We would get assigned a mentor, who was an actual civil engineer, who we could ask for advice and learn about the industry from. I applied for it on a whim thinking I might as well have another thing I could possibly use to my advantage in the future.

A few months go by, and I see a follow-up email in my inbox saying I had been accepted to the program and that there was a kick-off dinner where we would all learn about the program and meet our mentors. I was worried about getting assigned a mentor who wasn’t easy to communicate with or someone that wasn’t very involved in the program. Luckily, I was assigned to Kevin Carpenter, co-owner of Carpenter Marty Transportation. After talking in-depth about Ohio State sports, fantasy football, and other miscellaneous things, my worries had been assuaged. Also, I got to take home a ton of leftovers which alone would have made it all worth it.

As many of you may know, said mentor is the reason I have my internship this summer. Going into my first day, being the only person in the office under the age of 25 made me realize two things. First off, I realized I had never worked in an environment where all my coworkers were older than me. I had no idea how I’d get along with everyone or how easy it would be to assimilate to the culture of the office. Secondly, I realized I’d be the only person in the office who couldn’t legally rent a car.

As Melanie showed me around the office and people started to introduce themselves to me I knew that I’d be able to fit in just fine. Everyone was so welcoming and seemed genuinely happy to have me working there. I got to sit in on meetings with both the traffic and roadway teams, and immediately I felt like I would actually have a purpose working this summer, rather than just filing paperwork or doing meaningless stereotypical intern tasks.

It didn’t take long to confirm this was the truth. From the start, I was researching deeds and plotting property lines for Andy, helping the traffic team set up traffic cameras and enter volume data into reports, and assisting the roadway team with organizing and numbering summary sheets. As the summer went on, my workload broadened to include going up to Canton to machete foliage under an overpass with Adam and heading to the Union County Recorder’s Office to peruse through dozens of deed books with Andy. 

This summer has been such a well-rounded and valuable experience in helping me further my education as a civil engineer. I’m so very appreciative for everyone here making this internship worthwhile for me. From taking me out to lunch on my first day to helping me celebrate my 21^st birthday with lunch and a happy hour, I always felt included and valued as a worker here at Carpenter Marty. With that, thank you everyone for providing me with a fantastic internship experience. It was so great getting to know you all and I’m sure I’ll be back to visit.

Guest publication by Henry Becht, The Ohio State University Class of 2019